Floorplanner Helps with Room Design

In the mood to mix things up around the house but don't have the back strength or time to move furniture around all day? Check out Floorplanner, a web floor planning application that allows you to create floor plans, then drop in furniture, rugs, windows, doors and lots of other features to design rooms on your computer screen.

I would have finished this post sooner, but I've been tinkering with it for awhile, moving imaginary furniture around to come up with an imaginary new look for my living room. Next, the bedrooms. Just what I need—another distraction to make me feel as if I'm being productive while not truly accomplishing anything. But I find it is inspiring me to come up with ideas to make some changes around the house.

You can set rooms to scale, then drag and drop structural features and furnishings into them to see your ideas from a birds-eye view. As Lifehacker notes, the free account will be all many homeowners need (that's all I've been using), but there are premium options available for heavy users, ranging from $23.50 a month to $95 a month.

Related: Room Design for Grown-Ups